Life
by proudlittlewitchbitch
Summary: Celeste started to feel a strange presence within Derry, and if there's one thing her family has taught her was to always trust her gut. That is how her kind survive.


Disclaimer: I don't own **IT** or any of it's characters, they all belong to their rightful owners, I only own my OC and any characters I've made up.

Enjoy.

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**2016**

Jazz music filled the large dimly lit room, the music coming from an antique record player and the device still looked brand new as the day it was purchased. The walls were painted a burgundy color giving it a warm atmosphere, there were two giant bookcases filled with an odd variety of literature; a normal person would've raised an eyebrow at the titles. A globe of the planet tucked in the corner of the room, spinning silently, nick knacks and trinkets littered around the room. Above the fireplace were frames that held various pictures; a man and woman with a toddler in the middle of them, an elderly woman hugging a middle age woman who had a child tucked underneath her arm, a woman and a elderly woman hugging a teenage girl who had a cap and gown with her diploma in her fist, and lastly a woman who held a curly haired child.

A woman sat behind a cherry wood desk, her fingers pounding on the keyboards of her laptop and she had stacks of papers on her other side, she grabbed a glass of wine in front of her to take a sip and she set it back down to return typing. Red lipstick stained the rim of the wine glass, a second later the stain disappeared, a normal person would've questioned where the stain had vanished but she continued to type as if the disappearance of the stain wasn't strange. In fact for her it was natural occurrence.

Celeste de Martel sighed as she shut her laptop shut, she ran a hand down her face and stood up to stretch her arms above her head, satisfied when she heard a crack. She grabbed her glass of wine and downed what remained, Celeste reached down to open the drawer that held a bottle and proceeded to pour herself another glass, she made her way to the record player, she lifted the needle cutting off the music and she closed it.

Smiling softly she placed a hand on the device, Celeste cherished the record player as it belonged to her father Henri. She remembered when she was a child and she along with her father listened to his jazz collections in their living room, her head laid on his shoulder as she listens to him go on about his time as a boy.

Celeste walked over to the fireplace where her pictures rested on top, she grabbed the frame that held her parents and herself as a child. Her fingered traced the face of her father, Henri was smiling widely as his arm wrapped around her mother Amélie, little Celeste was perched on his lap with a wide grin to match her father's. She smiled sadly, she hugged the picture tightly to her chest as though the picture were her parents.

That picture was taken decades ago, and Celeste was no longer a child but a forty year old woman. How she wished to be in her parents presence again, to be able to hold them once more.

Celeste glanced down at the picture, she saw both her mother and father in her. Her parents argued on who she looked like the most, Henri said she looked like her Louisiana Creole mother with those tight, dark bouncing curls and the freckles that laid on the bridge of her nose. Amélie argued that Celeste looked much like her Henri, she had his strong square jaw and his hazel eyes. Both of her parents had been tall, and Celeste proudly stood up to 5'10.

Henri and Amélie raised Celeste in New Orleans, Louisiana, where both of them had grown up. Amélie Dubois had met Henri de Martel during a festival their people had thrown, they became fast friends and that friendship extended into something more romantic. Their families approved of the relationship, after all they were all from the same circle and thought bringing their bloodlines together would make the future generation stronger.

The de Martels lived peacefully in the city, her father ran his music shop in the french quarter along with Amélie, Celeste had fond memories of herself being Henri's little helper at the store, she remembered watching her father dancing with her mother after they closed up the shop. She remembered playing with the other children in her neighborhood as their parents exchanged ways on how to keep their circle safe, helping out her mother and grandmother with the cooking, and being tucked into bed by her father. Those were the good memories she held onto as she grew older.

Unfortunately, she remembered the bad as well. She vividly remembered her father's death. She was only six and half years old when she witnessed his murder.

_It was late, Henri had decided to organize the records he received in the afternoon he wanted them displayed before the next day. Celeste sat in the back room with various dolls littered around her. Henri checked on Celeste every ten minutes to see how she was doing, when he saw she was still playing with her dolls he went back to organize. Henri heard the bell on top of the door ring, signaling a customer entered the store, Henri spotted three men dressed in black suits by the entrance, two bulky men behind a slight shorter man, he felt the hair on his arms stood up and felt a pit in his stomach, he can practically hear the warning bells go off in his head. Henri set the box he had in his arms down quietly, he crouched down and tried not to make noise as he made his way over to the back room, thankful he left the door open, he dropped to his knees in front of his daughter and Celeste looked up at once from her dolls. She smiled sweetly but frowned when she noticed his agitated expression._

_She opened her mouth to ask if her father was okay, but Henri held a finger to his lips and she snapped her mouth shut. Henri looked over his shoulder swiftly, he turned back to her and stared into her eyes._

_"Sweetheart, do me a favor and be quiet. Don't make any noise, we're gonna playing hide and seek, you're going to hide, but you're gonna wait here. Do you understand me. " Henri demanded quietly, he glanced over his shoulder once again._

_"Papa-"_

_"Shh." Henri shushed her urgently. He kissed her on the cheek and brought her into his arms. "Do you understand me."_

_He turned to look at her and she hesitantly nodded._

_Henri sighed in relief, and smiled at her gently. "Okay, that's my girl. Whatever you hear don't come out to help me just keep hiding. In fact you're going to hide in here."_

_Henri brought her over to an antique trunk, Celeste stepped into the trunk with his guidance and she laid down on her back. Celeste stared up at him questioningly. Henri stared down at his daughter, he felt a pang in his heart, he had dreadful feeling that it'll be the last time he'll ever see her again, he leaned down to give her one last kiss on her forehead. "I love you, my darling."_

_"I love you, papa." Celeste whispered, swallowing nervously. She clutched her doll tightly as her father closed the trunk._

_Henri looked down at the trunk where his daughter was hidden away, just to be sure she stayed safe and hidden. He placed his hand on the trunk and muttered under his breath, when he was satisfied he turned away from the trunk._

_Henri let out a shaky breath, he pulled back his shoulders and began to walk towards the front of the store where the three men stood._

_"May I help you, gentlemen." Henri greeted the three strangers, he placed his hands behind his back and watched the man in the middle turned to him with an oily smile._

_"By any chance are you Henri de Martel?" The stranger asked, a sick smile plastered on his face. He was a bit shorter than Henri, he had short blonde hair and brown eyes. Someone you don't give a second glance. The stranger clasped his hands together in front of him, the men behind him shifted a bit, Henri eyed them cautiously._

_"Yes." Henri replied curtly, he didn't like the way the man's eyes lit up._

_Celeste tried to focus on her father's conversation, but she only hear her loud breathing. She slowed down her breathing to make out the conversation but it was difficult to understand them, she began to fiddled with the silver pendant her father had gifted to her on her fifth birthday, in the middle laid a topaz gem. Celeste shifted a bit to get comfortable, she wanted to get out of the box and be at her father's side. As Celeste was left with her wandering thoughts she heard a muffled crash and her father's scream, she gasped and she slammed her hands on the trunk's lid trying to get it open._

_"Papa!" Celeste screamed, pounding her fist on the wooden trunk trying her best get out. She tried and tried with all her strength to pry it open but nothing worked and she laid there in the trunk having no choice but to listen to her father's screams._

_What seemed like an eternity her father's screams finally came to a halt, she continued to sob as her vision became blurry from her tears. "Papa."_

_She heard a pair of heavy footsteps stomping towards her direction and she tried to control her cries, she prayed that her father managed to fight back and he was coming to get her out. Celeste heard the footsteps stop in front of the trunk, she held her breath and bit her lip anxiously. The lid of the trunk opened._

_It was not her father. She gasped at the sight of a blonde man, his beady eyes bore down at her and she watched as he surveyed the trunk. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of droplets of blood on his face, he wiped the blood off his face with a cloth. Celeste whimpered, closing her eyes tightly and hoped he didn't hurt her. When she laid there for a while she opened one eye to check if the man was still there, and sure enough he was. But he looked down at her in confusion._

_"There's nothing here, I could've sworn I heard something." He called out._

_Celeste starred in bewilderment, how did he not see her?_

_"Alright, boss, let's get the fuck out of here before someone spots us" The other man called out._

_The blonde man grunted and slammed the trunk shut, Celeste flinched and she waited until all the men left the store, she heard the bell signaling the men had all left. She waited in silence afraid the men were lingering around the store, but all she heard was silence. She lifted the trunk lid slowly and she stepped out with trembling legs, her stomach churning, she swallowed harshly and she quietly stepped forward. Celeste tiptoed her way to the counter, she stopped abruptly at the sight of her father's body._

_Henri was on his stomach with blood oozing from the gash from his throat, his hazel eyes were closed and his lips parted open, his body uncannily still. Celeste closed her eyes tightly, prayed that when she opened her eyes her father was alive and well, she opened her eyes and her father's corpse still on the ground._

_Celeste chest rose rapidly as she started hyperventilating, she opened her mouth to let a heartbroken wail._

Celeste downed her drink and refilled her glass once more, she recalled how a man entered the store to discover Henri de Martel's body and Celeste clutching her father, sobbing her little heart out. He immediately called the police, when they arrived they had to pry her away from her father's body. Everytime she thought about that day she felt her heart ache, she harshly wiped the tear that fell down her cheek.

She sighed heavily, downing her wine in one gulp.

_Her mother, Amélie, had been at their home when she received a call informing her she was needed down at the police station._

_"What is this about, please just talk to me!" Amélie demanded, her hands clutching her bag as she led down the hallway of the police station. Her face showing nothing but worry. Every horrible scenario ran through her head, her heart sped up._

_"Mrs. de Martel, we'll discuss about that after you've seen your daughter." Officer Kenner said, he found the room they put Celeste in and opened the door._

_Celeste stared blankly at the hot chocolate a kind officer had brought for her, said officer was by her side gently asking her of what occurred at the music shop. When the officer heard the door open he spotted his partner with a woman who had to be Celeste's mother, his partner glanced at him questioningly but he shook his head to indicate she hasn't spoken._

_Amélie gasped at the sight of blood on her daughter's blouse. "Celeste!"_

_Celeste snapped out of the trance she was in, and burst into tears at the sight of her mother. "Mama."_

_Amélie rushed to her daughter's side and brought her into a hug, Celeste sobbing loudly into her mother's blouse as her mother rubbed her back._

_Amélie glanced up at the officers. "Why does she have blood on her?!"_

_"It's not mine, mama. It's not mine" Celeste hiccuped, tears and snot covered her face._

_"What?" Amélie frowned, she gently rubbed away her the snot and tears with her handkerchief._

_One of the officers cleared their throat. "We need to talk to you privately, Ma'am."_

_"I'm not leaving her alone." Amélie firmly said, her grip tightening on Celeste._

_Officer Kenner sighed deeply, he crossed his arms and he had a feeling she wasn't going to no for an answer if he asked her again. "I'm sorry to inform you, but your husband is dead."_

_Amélie froze. Celeste cries grew louder. Amélie heartbeat pounding in her ears, the officers apologizes were muffled._

_"How?" Amélie whispered, tears gathering in her eyes. Her hands shook as she held onto her crying daughter._

_"We don't know, your daughter might know, she was in the store when it happened, we're trying to get her to speak."_

_Amélie's lip trembled, she placed her hand over her mouth as she began to cry. Henri was dead, and Celeste was there when it happened._

Celeste's mother had managed to coax her into talking, the police tried their best to investigate the murder but it became cold. They couldn't figure out who murdered Henri.

Two months later Amélie packed their belongings, she along with her mother, Dominique, and daughter left New Orleans. They moved east, moving state to state.

The first three years after Celeste and her family moved from the city she didn't bother making any friends as there was no point of making any, she'll leave them behind as her family never stayed too long in one place. Amélie and Dominique took her to therapy, they tried their best to help her cope with Henri's death. Over the years the pain lessened a bit.

Years had gone by, she grew up, went to college and she had the career she wanted. But she felt like she was missing something, something important.

The strangest thing was that she can never recall where she and her family had stayed when she was ten to eighteen years old, she tried to remember where she grew up but the memories were foggy. She tried everything to remember, but nothing, it frustrated her to no end but after time she forced herself to give up.

Celeste sat down on her chair, she crossed her arms on her desk and rested her chin on top of her crossed arms. She rested her eyes for a second. Until her phone started to ring.

Celeste jumped at the shrill ringing of her phone, she sighed and wondered who could be calling this late. She looked at the caller ID, and frowned at the unfamiliar number but she decided to answer anyway.

"This is Celeste de Martel." She answered.

She heard silence on the other end, she frowned ready to hang up but a voice spoke up before she can do so.

"Celeste, it's Mike. Mike Hanlon from Derry."

Celeste froze.

"Celeste? You there?"

Celeste started to breath heavily, she stared out her window as she started to remember a dark skinned boy. Sweet, kind Mike.

She couldn't believe it. Her hands shook a bit, she unconsciously traced a finger down the scar on her left hand. Celeste's heart was ready to burst from her chest.

Her wine glass started to crack a bit as her breathing started to pick up, until it finally exploded into tiny pieces causing Celeste to scream. She looked at the mess she created in disbelief.

"Oh, shit. I haven't done that in years."

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**Hopefully, you enjoyed it so far. Review, please.**


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